Marriott International has opened the Port Muziris, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel in Kochi, the first ever Tribute Portfolio hotel in South Asia. The hotel marks the fifth Marriott International property in Kochi located at just 300 meters away from the Cochin International Airport. Commenting on this launch, Neeraj Govil, Area Vice President, South Asia- Marriott International, says, “The addition of the Tribute Portfolio in Marriott International’s brand footprint for South Asia reinforces our continued focus on providing a diverse collection of prime, distinctive properties across high potential markets in the region. Port Muziris, a Tribute Portfolio hotel is set to exemplify the brand’s vision, offering travelers a unique blend of old-world charm and contemporary amenities, topped off with signature Indian hospitality. The hotel presents guests with the opportunity to spark connections and experience the taste of surrounding communities in the state of Kerala.” “Port Muziris is going to add to the efforts to make Kerala a world-class tourism destination. I believe that it is where Kerala starts. The property’s uniqueness is visible through the soulful art spread across the property, the homely local food and the untypical rooms that bring out the vibrancy, vigor, and life of Kerala. At Twenty14 Holdings, we strive to keep our peerless hospitality growing by ensuring that each of our hotels is unique in its identity, intent, and immersion,” said Adeeb Ahamed, Managing Director of Twenty14 Holdings. Port Muziris, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel features 54 artistically designed rooms, including three Executive Suites. The hotel design evokes grandeur and is reminiscent of the heritage residences found in Kerala. The hotel offers an exciting range of dining options, each with its own unique flavours and identity. With …

SpiceJet has announced the launch of 12 new domestic flights connecting the key metros of Mumbai and Delhi with a host of cities on its domestic network. SpiceJet has introduced new flights on the Delhi-Vishakhapatnam-Delhi and Delhi-Kochi-Delhi sectors. The airline will also enhance its operations on the Mumbai-Bengaluru-Mumbai (5th frequency), Mumbai-Gorakhpur-Mumbai (2nd frequency), Mumbai-Chennai-Mumbai (5th frequency) and Delhi-Srinagar-Delhi (3rd frequency) sectors.

The Civil Aviation Ministry is now considering re-allocating the airline’s foreign traffic rights to Air India, SpiceJet and IndiGo. Local carriers have set sight on lucrative routes such as Mumbai-London, Delhi-Dubai and Mumbai-Paris and want the government to distribute slots for these sectors. The ministry has asked airlines to give their fleet induction plan so that a fair decision on giving traffic rights could be taken. (Source: IANS)

Korean Air has implemented 0% agent commission on all tickets issued on and after May 1, 2019. The news comes in line with many other airlines withdrawing agent’s commissions completely. Earlier, Korean Air was offering as much as 5% commission for agents in India, which was higher than many other airlines, who still offer commissions.

The Bureau of Immigration, under the Home Ministry, India had issued over 2.5 million e-Visa last year, a five-fold jump from 2015, and reduced the main category visa from 26 to 21. Reportedly, the number of e-Visas issued by the Bureau of Immigration has risen from 5.29 lakh in 2015 to 25.15 lakh last year. On the other hand, the number of regular or paper visas issued by Indian missions abroad has come down from 45 lakh to around 35 lakh in the same period. Sub-categories of visa has been reduced from 104 to 65, thus rationalising and simplifying the visa regime and removing confusion. The e-Visa facility covers 166 countries and foreigners can obtain online visa within 72 hours for travel related to tourism, business, health, medical attendant and conference purposes.    

Addressing delegates at Indaba 2019, Derek Hanekom, Minister of Tourism, Government of South Africa, informed that India will be among the top three countries e-Visa regime will be extended to, besides China and Nigeria. Talking more on this, the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, highlighted the 10 challenges that needed to be looked over in order to boost arrivals to the country. Speaking at the third day of Africa’s largest tourism event, he said, “We must reduce the onerous and often unnecessary bureaucratic red tape that tourists who want to visit our country face. This requires us to streamline our tourist visa regimes. We are in the process of radically overhauling our visa dispensation for the rest of the world and introducing a world-class e-visa system.”

IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) Tourism has launched a tour package of six nights and seven days to Ladakh, Sham Valley and Nubra Valley. IRCTC Tourism is the tourism arm of the Indian Railways, announced that the tour will start from Delhi via economy class of GoAir. While the tour will be starting on multiple dates, the tariff of the package starts at Rs. 46,430 per person, which is inclusive of taxes, according to IRCTC Tourism’s website. The package includes air tickets (Delhi-Leh-Delhi round trip), accommodation in hotel rooms, entrance/monument fees as per the itinerary, breakfast, lunch and dinner according to IRCTC’s website. The package also offers travel insurance for passengers.

Utilising the free slots vacated by Jet Airways, Air Asia India is all set to expand its capacity after commencement of additional flights from the Delhi airport effective May 20. The low-cost airline will launch additional flights to Indore, Bagdogra, Hyderabad and Ranchi from Delhi. The fares will start from Rs 3,079. The flight I5 752 will depart at 05:35 from Delhi and arrive at 07:05 in Indore while flying back at 07:35 and reaching Delhi by 08:55. The I5 744 flight to Ranchi will depart at 09:35 and reach the destination by 11:15. It will fly back to Delhi on 11:45 and reach at 13:50. The Delhi to Bagdogra flight I5 756 will fly at 14:30 and reach the destination by 16:40 while I5 757 will fly back to Delhi on 17:10 and reach by 19:20 . The Delhi-Hyderabad flight will take off at 19:50 and reach Hyderabad by 22:10 and it fly back to Delhi at 22:50 and reach Delhi by 1:00. The airline inducted its 20th aircraft in February and is now eligible to fly overseas, prior to necessary approval from DGCA.

GoAir in a statement has said that ahead of rainy season in Maldives, the airline has decided to curtail flight operations to Velana International Airport, Male for the period between July – October 2019. “Across the world airlines operate leisure destinations on the basis of seasonality and load factors. Post that, GoAir management team will take a call and resume flights.” GoAir spokesperson said.

The Global Travel & Tourism Resilience Council is organising the 1st Asian Resilience Summit in Kathmandu on May 31. Hosted by Nepal Tourism Board, the event is supported by UNWTO, PATA, IIPT, TripAdvisor, CNN, BBC, Qatar Airways, PEAK DMC and ETOA. The event has been planned in the region to celebrate the successful resilience efforts demonstrated over the last several years by the Nepal Tourism Board in overcoming the devastating effects of the 2015 earthquake and will review successful policies in Nepal which led to stabilization, regeneration and growth of the travel sector. The Summit will be an opportunity to share the strategies that have enabled the country to recover despite the different economic, political, natural and anthropogenic changes in the last few years. Further, the event is seen as a platform to foster opportunities for partnerships, trade and foreign direct investment. A highlight of the Summit will be the IIPT Peace Through Tourism Destination Awards which will be presented at a gala dinner as the culmination of the Summit. Ajay Prakash, President IIPT India and Kiran Yadav, Vice President will travel to Nepal to present the Awards in four categories: • Resilient Tourism Community Award • Resilient Tourism Business Award • Resilience Efforts Through Cultural Diversity • Change Maker in Tourism Award Government and travel industry leaders will come together sharing experiences and insights at the Summit. Well-known names such as Taleb Rifai, Xu Jing, Mario Hardy, Sudarshan Raj Tiwari, Deepak Joshi and H.E. Edmund Bartlett will join with Ministers of Tourism and other dignitaries to highlight opportunities in Nepal, strategies for resilience and explore further opportunities for Nepal’s continued growth, international perception management and also highlight the activities …